MLBtraderumors found a reason to stay significant post-trade deadline yesterday, and now it’s official — Alex Rios has been traded to the Rangers for Leury Garcia. Who? Basically. (To be fair, he does have some speed, but the hit tool is a bit lacking. So close, yet Profar. HUUUUR.) You can check on the complete, gory details here. But don’t complain about the lack of gore. So, what’s the fantasy impact here? No, silly, I’m not asking you. Unless you know the answer, then by all means, go for it. You can’t tell, but I waited a good five minutes. Thanks for nothing. Allow me. While U.S. Cellular Field can be homer happy, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is right behind in offensive park factors. I do prefer the Texas lineup, so a boost in projected runs and RBI’s may occur. Grey projected a 37/10/30/.284/14 line for him in the second half, and while Rios has gotten off to a slow start, these are still achievable numbers if going into a playoff situation can get some of those juices flowing. Or there might not be any juices. I am unaware of Rios’ juice levels. But let’s hope its cranberry. Because that’s my favorite juice. Honestly, it’s just really hard to tell if a player is going to pull a CC Sabathia or Ryan Ludwick. Overall though, I don’t see a huge change in the dynamic, but there’s certainly nothing to complain about. Here’s what else I noticed yesterday…

Norichika Aoki — 2-for-5, 3 RBIs. Looks like he’s going to give close to a 10/20 year with a decent BA. For a #4 OF, he’s Aoki in my book.

Oswaldo Arcia — 2-for-10, 2 runs, 2 RBI and his 8th and 9th homers. What did the pirate say to his friend before leaving? ARRRRcia!

Jose Bautista — 3-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI and his 26th homer. Really the only highlight for the Blue Jays last night. Well, that, and realizing Esmil Rogers should probably not start anymore games this year.

Brandon Beachy — 8 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 6 Ks. Encouraging to see a second solid start with a side of no earned runs after his blowup against the Rockies. Even then, I still don’t trust him. Fair? Maybe. Maybe not. What can you do? Sometimes, life is a Beachy. Yeah. I just did that.

Brandon Belt — 2-for-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI and his 13th homer. Now hitting .458 with 3 HRs and 5 BB’s in the month of August. Did you not believe me?

Lance Berkman — He’s aiming to return next Friday after contemplating retirement. Money, I’m sure, played no part in this decision. Expect a rehab stint starting tomorrow. Don’t worry, I have a Photoshop of him batting in a wheelchair on standby.

Clay Buchholz — Threw a 40-pitch bullpen session, with about 60-65 percent effort, and should be moving up to a simulated game next week. Since we are doing simulated games, am I to understand here, that after doing a 40-damage attack with the red-thread infused ball of white, with a dexterity rating of 60-65, that Buchholz is ready to return? I’d prefer not to use him to slay the great green monster until we find the +5 to magic missile amulet.

Matt Garza — 7 IP, 4 ER, 8 baserunners, 8 Ks. This start is pretty much the poster child of what I would expect going forward. He’ll get you the K’s, but that’ll go with a very pedestrian ERA and WHIP.

Josh Hamilton — 1-for-2, 1 run, 3 RBIs and his 17th homer. Hamilton had been hitless in his last 13 at-bats until this game, and Chris Nelson was hitting in front of him. Proving that when you are at rock bottom, there’s a whole ‘nother level below that mutha. I mentioned him as buy at All Star break, and since then, he’s actually, um, tied July’s sacrifice fly total of one. So there’s that, I guess.

Austin Jackson — 4-for-6, 2 runs. Hmmm. All those hits and no RBIs. This is what happens when you put Don Kelly in a lineup.

Scott Kazmir — 3 IP, 5 ER, 7 baserunners, 3 Ks. The good here? He finished the game strong, giving up no runs with 3 strikeouts in his last two innings. The bad? He only pitched three innings.

Jed Lowrie — 4-for-4, 2 runs, 4 RBIs and his 9th homer. I would love to say something nice here. Heck, I would love to say anything, but I’m afraid that any utterance will send him directly to the DL.

Ivan Nova — 7 IP, 1 ER, 10 baserunners, 7 Ks. Doesn’t seem that long ago when I made the bold prediction that Nova could outproduce Dan Harenthis season. Granted, there has been some DL time served by Nova, and the counting stats are still fairly close. But both the rate and advanced stats are telling me there’s a huge difference, and, more importantly, that he’s rosterable in all formats.

Starling Marte — 4-for-4. He relies on BABIP for success. I rely on Bibimbap. Coincidence? Probably. Relevant? Not really. Hungry? You betcha.

Justin Maxwell — 3-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 5th homer. I can’t say I think much of Maxwell. But he’s gone 8 for his last 17 with 2 HR’s in the last week. So he’s either Maxhot or Hotwell. So you have a choice of what I imagine sounds like a spicy tampon or a musty British pub. Choose wisely.

Justin Morneau — 2-for-10, 2 runs, 5 RBIs and his 12th and 13th homers. I’ve been waiting five years for a day like this. I’m not sure if that reflects more poorly on Morneau or me.

Wil Myers — 2-for-4, 2 runs. For a midseason call-up, you have to be ecstatic with what he’s done. Just keep your future expectations in check. A high BABIP is a wonderful thing. Basically, I think his ceiling is more Jay Bruce than Ryan Braun.

Rick Porcello — 5 IP, 3 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks. Along with Grey, I’ve been on the bandwagon for quite a while. But if there are lessons to be learned from his 2013 season, they are: First, Mr. Dombrowski… defense, it’s part of the game. Please act like it. Second, FIP fantasy leagues should exist. Third, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon and, you guessed it, more bacon. Always end on a high note.

Jake Peavy — 5 IP, 6 ER, 11 baserunners. Not even a strikeout… incredibly uninspiring. Then again, he was cheaper than Matt Garza! That’s the glass half-full way of seeing things. I’m sure our resident Razzball Boston-diehard, The Guru, prefers the glass half-empty way. At least he’s not as bad as Ryan Dempster! Wait a sec…

David Price — 7 IP, 0 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks. I told you to buy when the Price was right. Now, the price is probably wrong. Pricewrong does not roll off the tongue as good as Jaywrong. Advantage me. Pricewrong pitches in the Major Leagues and makes more money. Advantage Pricewrong. It’s a tie! So why am I so sad?

Alexei Ramirez — 3-for-10, 2 runs, 5 RBIs and his 2nd and 3rd homers. Well, he finally passed Pete Kozma for the home run lead. That is, if you take out the 330 or so players that have hit more than three homeruns. So congrats, I guess.

Josh Reddick — 3-for-5, 3 runs, 5 RBIs and his 6th, 7th, and 8th homers. He hit more home runs in this game than he had in his previous 32 combined. A sign of things to come? His BABIP, batted ball profile, and plate discipline numbers are all pretty screwy, so a correction would be in order. Might be worth a look-see if Reddick has the urge to try and fit all that correction into as few games as possible this week.

Fernando Rodney — 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 baserunners, 1 K. Last night’s closer-defenestration was brought to you Fernando Rodney. Fernando? Just Fernandon’t. That’s his seventh blown save for the season and his second in the last three days. They’ve stuck with him so far, but if you have room for a handcuff, Joel Peralta would seem to be that guy.

Justin Smoak — 1-for-3, 1 run, 2 RBIs and his 12th homer. I like the improvements in his BB%, and the power is nice, but that BABIP over the last year has been around .330, which is a bit high for a guy with no speed. I would love to see nothing more than the Smoak monster emerge, but I still get the feeling that he’s just messing with me.

Chris Tillman — 8 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 9 Ks. He’s always shown flashes, and you have to admit, with this last start, he might be an enticing option for your pitching needs. But like Winter in Game of Thrones, regression is coming. By the way, I’m midway through season three. Daenerys is the only one doing this right. Everyone else just has no clue what they’re doing. And, you know, Dragons bro.

Jered Weaver — 7 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks. One of these days, his loss of velocity and his diminishing peripherals will show up in the results. At least, that’s what I’ve always told everyone. Then everyone reminds me that my name has the word ‘wrong’ in it. It’s hard to argue against that.

Rickie Weeks — Will need surgery on his injured left hamstring and will miss the remainder of the 2013 season. This guy, I call him Ray Lewis, cause he knows how to stab a guy and run.

BACON!

Jaywrong is a 30-year old Korish writer who finds solace using Makers Mark as a vehicle to impress women, and also has an affinity for making Jennifer Lawrence GIFs. You can follow him @jaywrong, read his blog Desultory Thoughts of a Longfellow, or, you can find his GIFs at his tumblr, named Siuijeonseo.

In my 20 team dynasty league I had my trade of profar lee soler for marte xander and Gio gonzalez rejected. I’m thinking of going back to him and offering profar wheeler darvish soler franklin for tulo ryu fister rizzo. Would this be a good haul for me? I could also just do profar wheeler soler franklin for tulo and ryu instead. What do you think I should do? I am in a win now mode.

I dropped Jacob Turner for DDL Rosa. I have Balfour, Perkins, and Parnell. My team is 8 1/2 in First. I am absolutely staked, but if Bobby doesn’t come back that crucially hurts my S situation. Good pick up? I mean he seems like the 9th inning option in LA now. He did get the save last night.

I just don’t have much to trade for just a closer and my leagues are difficult to trade with.

A guy in this league sent Hamels and Soriano for Joey Bats but I can’t get someone like Joey Bats for Prince Fielder, I guess that is why I am in first no!

For next season, how would you rank Encarnacion, Bautista, Davis, and Adam Jones? Trying to target one of them as a keeper in my H2H league that uses OBP instead of average. Looking at positional scarcity, I like E5 the most.

Did Middlebrooks get called up? If so is a Bogarts call up just a figment of my imagination. I have Bogarts stashed do you think It’s time to go in another direction or hold for a few more games? Have Lake doing a reasonable job at SS and waiver wire talent is slim at best so thinking of holding. By the way what do you think of Lake, Drew’s out there but seems mighty streaky kind of like Lake what think ? Thank you once again for your help and thoughts. Have a good week end!

@Mariner Mike: Yeah, looks like Middlebrook is getting recalled. I’m not a fan of Lake, I think he’s a bit player. Drew, while he’s hot, could help. If you have the room, I don’t mind give a dead spot to Xander. It still seems only a matter of time.

I’m taking this from cbssports.com (full credit to them):
Over his last seven games, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is hitting .471 with a double, a home run, and a 1.414 OPS. While he was due for a surge at some point, this jump in production actually has a direct reason.

On his MLB.com blog (which more people should really be reading), Belt writes that the team’s hitting coaches have been suggesting he move back in the box and hold the bat with ihs fingers, not his palms. “But I was stubborn,” Belt says. “I’d been successful my whole life with what I’d always done.” It took some conversations with other players — including Buster Posey and a player on another team — to convince him to try it. His first attempt at the changes? Seven games ago.

Belt says the tweaks allowed him to see the ball better, and have eliminated a rushed feeling at the plate. “I felt I was really tapping into my ability,” Belt writes.

As long as I’m getting the stats he’s currently producing, I’m all for confirmation bias and then some. In his blog post, Belt mentions the coaching staff recommending the change, but he was resistant to changing his mechanics.

Hey Jay just a quick question – in a H2H 6×6 (BB for batters, QS for pitchers), which two of the following outfielders do you like ROS: Michael Morse, EYJ, Juan Lagares, Oswaldo Garcia, Josh Willingham, Robbie Grossman, Michael Saunders, Kole Calhoun, Will Venable. I’d prefer one speed and one power guy but whichever two have the best overall value in that setup ROS in your opinion would be great help.

I want to pick up Sonny Gray, but don’t want to drop Danny Salazar or Erasmo Ramirez. I was thinking of cutting Oscar Tavares, but I am deathly scared to do so. While it’s not a keeper league, it is a league where you can only set your lineup once per week (stupid, I know) so I’m able to stash prospects on the bench. I stashed Puig early and it obviously payed off dividends. I would hate to drop Tavares and have him get called up and start raking and lose him to someone else. Advice? Thanks

@jaywrong: probably drop taveras, if not for ankle thing i’d say he’d be up for sure in september, but with it not so sure. The drop is Erasmo if you are worried about losing Taveras, Taveras if you aren’t worried. do not drop salazar.

Question I have holland k Janson and balfour team ahead of me has Rivera romo and soriano. I trail by 8 saves team and have a comfortable lead over team behind me. Odds I can catch him? I have Hawkins as well and debating if I should keep or trade him.

Salazar and Archer are available and 2 start pitchers next week. My SP’s are Price, Strasburg, Cain, Alex Wood, Miley, Cingrani, Medlen, and Alex Cobb.
Should I pick either/ both up, if so who should I drop? 12 team HTH

I need a save desperately and I know these are pretty much impossible to predict but would you go with Uehara @ KC or Kenley Jansen vs TB. Jansens team keeps winning but they’ve been blowing out teams so he can’t pitch, and the Royals are hot and the Red Sox don’t seem to look as good as they have this year. Thanks for the help!

Hey- drop Shane Victorino & add either BJ Upton, Junior Lake, Martin Prado or Eric Hosmer.. My OF is fine for the time being knock on wood about injuries, I’m activating Dom brown from the bench to starting lineup starting tomowrow (I kept him on the bench this week because I wasn’t sure when he’d be coming off the DL)

Also with Francisco Liriano’s bad start this past week would you drop him to add either Nolasco , Salazar or homer bailey? Or just keep Liriano?

keeper question (I have asked before but looking at another trade option)

10 team, 5 keeper league

Here is the question. the current owner of Braun cannot keep him next season. I’m currently in 5th place and there is a chance I could finish in 3rd, but most likely 4th or 5th. So, who could I trade as a keeper for Braun? Or should I trade any keepers for him? Unfortunately I think this owner will ask for McCutchen, Stanton, or Goldy and I’m just not willing to go to those lengths for Braun. What are your thoughts?